Man Who Understood Cats

The award-winning first novel pairing gay psychiatrist Jack Caleb with burned-out Chicago cop John Thinnes is a "e;cunning, adroit debut"e; (Publishers Weekly). When a CPA with OCD is found shot dead in his locked apartment with a .38 in his hand, only two people don't believe he killed himself. One is streetwise and world-weary Chicago homicide detective John Thinnes. The other is the victim's therapist, Dr. Jack Caleb, whose sudden appearance at the crime scene immediately arouses the cop's suspicions. The two men couldn't be more different. Caleb is wealthy, well-educated, and gay, witty enough to name his housecats Sigmund Freud and B. F. Skinner. Between job burnout and marital trouble, Thinnes lost his sense of humor a long time ago. He's not sure if the good doctor is an ally or his prime suspect. But as they begin to work together, the unlikely partners discover they do share common ground, most notably as Vietnam vets, and that they might be able to help each other as well as solve a baffling murder . . . "e;Winner of [St. Martin's] Best First Malice Domestic Novel Award . . . this assured and unusual debut boasts expressive language and sinewy notions of suspense."e; Publishers Weekly